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Abstract:

Disc dispensing device for dispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics
onto a culture dish. The device comprises a stationary support on which a
magazine is removably mounted. The magazine holds a plurality of tubular
containers each containing a stack of discs to be dispensed. A moving
means moves one disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a
pick-up position. From the pick-up position a transfer means picks up
said one disc and transfers it to the culture dish where it is dispensed.
The removable culture dish is supported by a moveable carriage which is
mounted on the stationary support. The carriage is moveable relative to
the magazine from a starting position to an operating position and vice
versa. Control means control the operation of the device. The plurality
of tubular containers is rotatable around a magazine centre under control
of the control means.

Claims:

1-33. (canceled)

34. Disc dispensing device for dispensing discs impregnated with
antibiotics onto a culture dish, said disc dispensing device comprising:
a stationary support; a magazine removably mounted on the stationary
support, said magazine being arranged for holding a plurality of tubular
containers, each tubular container being adapted for containing a stack
of discs to be dispensed, moving means for moving one disc from a bottom
end of a tubular container to a pick-up position, transfer means for
picking up said one disc from the pick-up position, for transferring said
one disc to the culture dish and for dispensing said one disc onto the
culture dish, a moveable carriage for supporting a removable culture
dish, said moveable carriage being mounted on the stationary support and
being moveable relative to the magazine from a starting position to an
operating position and vice versa, control means for controlling the
operation of the moving means and the operation of the transfer means,
said control means being activated to control the moving means and the
transfer means to dispense a disc impregnated with antibiotics onto the
culture dish in the operating position of the carriage, wherein the
plurality of containers is rotatable around a magazine centre under
control of the control means.

35. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 34, wherein the operating
position is spaced from the centre of the magazine.

36. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 34 or 35, wherein the
moving means is a moving means for moving one disc from a bottom end of a
tubular container to a pick-up position in a radial direction outwardly
from the centre of the magazine.

37. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 36, wherein the pick up
position is fixed relative to the stationary support.

38. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims,
wherein said carriage comprises means for rotating the culture dish.

39. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims,
wherein the disc dispensing device further comprises culture dish
identifying means for detecting and reading an identifying mark on a
culture dish, said culture dish identifying means being connected to the
control means for providing a signal indicative of the read identifying
mark of the culture dish to the control means.

40. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims,
wherein the disc dispensing device further comprises tubular container
identifying means for detecting and reading an identifying mark on a
tubular container, said tubular container identifying means being
connected to the control means for providing a signal indicative of the
read identifying mark of the tubular container to the control means.

41. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 40, wherein the control
means comprises a memory, said control means being adapted for
automatically or responsive to manual input activating the tubular
identifying means during rotation of the plurality of containers for
reading all the tubular container identifying marks, and being adapted
for automatically inputting the signals indicative of the read tubular
identifying marks into the memory, indicating the position and content of
each of the plurality of tubular containers within the magazine, and
wherein said control means are adapted for controlling the rotation of
the plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish,
the operation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer
means based on the input position and content of each of the plurality of
tubular containers contained in the memory and based on suitable software
programs loaded on a processor of the control means.

43. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 39, 40, or 41, wherein the
control means is adapted for operating in a first operation mode for
controlling the rotation of the plurality of tubular containers, the
rotation of the culture dish, the operation of the moving means and/or
the operation of the transfer means based on the signal indicative of the
read identifying mark of the culture dish and/or the signal indicative of
the read identifying mark of the tubular container, and based on suitable
software programs loaded on a processor of the control means.

44. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the claim 39, 40, or
41, wherein the control means comprises a communication interface to an
external device for sending and receiving information to and from said
external device, respectively, said control means being adapted for
operating in a second operation mode for controlling the rotation of the
plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish, the
operation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer means
based on the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the
culture dish and/or the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of
the tubular container, and based on received external information.

45. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the claim 39, 40, or
41, wherein the disc dispensing device comprises a manual control panel,
said control means being adapted for operating in a third operation mode
for overriding the automatic control of the control means by the manual
control panel.

46. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 45, wherein the control
means comprises a memory, said control panel being adapted for enabling
manual input of the position and content of each of the plurality of
tubular containers within the magazine into the memory, and wherein said
control means are adapted for controlling the rotation of the plurality
of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish, the operation of
the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer means based on the
input position and content of each of the plurality of tubular containers
contained in the memory and based on suitable software programs loaded on
a processor of the control means.

47. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims,
wherein the transfer means comprises a needle and displacing means for
displacing the needle in at least one dimension, preferably at least two
dimensions, and most preferably in at least three dimensions.

48. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 47, wherein the needle is
surrounded by a sleeve which is movable relative to the needle.

49. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims,
further comprising means for automatically removing and placing a lid
from and on a culture dish, respectively.

50. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims,
further comprising a conveyor for conveying a culture dish to and from
the moveable carriage and means for automatically transferring a culture
dish from the moveable carriage onto the conveyor and vice versa,
respectively.

51. Tubular container for use in a disc dispensing device as claimed in
claim 40 or 41, wherein said tubular container is provided with an
identifying mark, said identifying mark being readable by tubular
container identifying means, said identifying mark referring to and/or
containing information at least regarding the content of the tubular
container.

52. Method of dispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics, said method
comprising the steps of: providing a culture dish in a starting position;
moving said culture dish from the starting position into an operating
position; providing a magazine comprising a plurality of tubular
containers, each tubular container containing a stack of discs to be
dispensed, when the culture dish is in the operating position moving one
disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position,
picking up said one disc from the pick-up position, transferring said one
disc to the culture dish and dispensing said one disc onto the culture
dish, controlling the step of moving said culture dish and the step of
transferring said one disc to the culture dish to dispense a disc
impregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish in the operating
position, wherein the method comprises the step of rotating the plurality
of tubular containers around a magazine centre when the culture dish is
in the operating position.

53. (canceled)

54. (canceled)

55. (canceled)

56. (canceled)

57. (canceled)

58. (canceled)

59. (canceled)

60. (canceled)

61. (canceled)

62. (canceled)

63. (canceled)

64. (canceled)

65. (canceled)

66. (canceled)

67. (canceled)

Description:

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The invention relates to a disc dispensing device for dispensing
discs impregnated with antibiotics onto a culture dish, said disc
dispensing device comprising: a stationary support; a magazine removably
mounted on the stationary support, said magazine being arranged for
holding a plurality of tubular containers, each tubular container being
adapted for containing a stack of discs to be dispensed; moving means for
moving one disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up
position; transfer means for picking up said one disc from the pick-up
position, for transferring said one disc to the culture dish and for
dispensing said one disc onto the culture dish; a moveable carriage for
supporting a removable culture dish, said moveable carriage being mounted
on the stationary support and being moveable relative to the magazine
from a starting position to an operating position and vice versa; and
control means for controlling the operation of the moving means and the
operation of the transfer means, said control means being activated to
control the moving means and the transfer means to dispense a disc
impregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish in the operating
position of the carriage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Such disc dispensing devices may be used in antibiotic
susceptibility testing, the agar gel in the culture dish acting as a
sterile nutrient medium for a bacteria colony being analysed. The
bacteria colony is introduced onto the surface of the gel, usually coming
from an original petri dish (preferably after incubation), and the discs
are distributed over the surface of the gel by means of the disc
dispensing device. Each disc contains a different antibiotic or an
antibiotic in a different concentration, so that the effect on the
bacteria colony of a plurality of different antibiotics or different
concentrations of antibiotics can be simultaneously studied. The use of
impregnated discs in this way is well known and will not be described
further. In addition, as is usual in this technical field, a bacteria
colony normally is put in suspension and brought at the desired
concentration before it is transferred to the culture dish. For the sake
of simplicity throughout this application the expression bacteria colony
is used, but it will be clear to a person skilled in the art that this
term refers to any form in which a bacteria colony can be brought which
is suitable to transfer to a culture dish. In addition, although the
expression "disc" is used throughout this application, this expression in
the meaning of this application also refers to discs having a substantial
thickness, and thus also encompasses tablets impregnated with
antibiotics. In addition the discs need not have a uniform thickness.

[0003] A disc dispensing device of the kind as described above is known
from GB-A-2 001 432. In this known device the discs are stacked one on
top of another in a plurality of elongate cylindrical cartridges provided
in a magazine. The discs are biased to an exit end of the cartridge by
means of an internal coil spring. Any one cartridge contains only discs
impregnated with one particular antibiotic, details of which are
displayed on the exterior of the cartridge. A culture dish can be placed
on a moveable carriage which is moved in an operating position which is
at least almost directly positioned underneath the magazine. After
manually positioning the culture dish in the starting position and
manually positioning the cartridge in the device the known dispensing
device further operates almost completely automatic and consequently
provides a preparation for a rapid analysis of clinical samples, thus
facilitating its use in situations such as hospitals and laboratories
where a considerable number of tests must be made. In the known device a
disc is transferred by applying suction to a transfer pipe to thereby
hold a disc on the free end of the pipe. The pipe is moved so that the
disc is transferred with the pipe from the pick-up position to a
releasing position. Upon termination of the suction applied to the pipe
the disc is released on the culture dish. Although this known disc
dispensing device can operate satisfactorily the internal construction of
the magazine and the suction device to transfer discs from a respective
cartridge to a specified position on the culture disc is complex and only
provides a limited choice in dispensing positions of discs on the culture
dish. Furthermore, adaptation of the known disc dispensing device to a
different bacteria colony present on the culture dish is relatively time
consuming, in particular replacing the magazine and replacing the
cartridges within the magazine is time consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is an object of the invention to provide a simple and compact
disc dispensing device, which can be used in a versatile way and which
can be adapted quickly to changes in bacteria colonies (in particular
changes in the identity of the bacteria colonies) present on a culture
dish.

[0005] According to the invention at least one of these objects or at
least part of one of these objects is achieved by providing a disc
dispensing device for dispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics onto
a culture dish according to claim 1. Since the plurality of containers is
rotatable around a magazine centre under control of the control means it
is possible to simplify the construction of the disc dispensing device.

[0006] In an embodiment of a disc dispensing device according to the
invention the operating position is spaced from the centre of the
magazine. By spacing the operating position from the centre of the
magazine, the culture dish can be positioned at such a distance from the
magazine that handling and operation, and consequently construction, can
be simplified. In addition since there is more space available,
additional devices can be positioned on the stationary support. For
example, it is thus possible to position more carriages around the
magazine, such that a plurality of culture dishes can be used at the same
time. In addition it is thus possible to use a very large number, e.g.
forty-two, of tubular containers and still be able to dispense discs in a
relatively easy manner on the culture dish. Such a large number of
containers allows a vast number of combinations of discs, and
consequently antibiotics to be used in a susceptibility test, with one
and the same magazine. It is in particular advantageous when the moving
means is a moving means for moving one disc from a bottom end of a
tubular container to a pick-up position in a radial direction outwardly
from the centre of the magazine.

[0007] In a further embodiment of a disc dispensing device according to
the invention the pick up position is fixed relative to the stationary
support. In this way it is possible to use a transfer means which is
relatively simple of construction. Alternatively the pick up position is
displaceable relative to the stationary support, but this also entails a
displaceable transfer means.

[0008] In order to be able to provide a distributed placement of discs on
the culture dish the carriage comprises in an embodiment of a disc
dispensing device according to the invention means for rotating the
culture disc. In this way the culture dish can be rotated so that a
number of discs can be positioned at desired positions on the culture
dish. In particular when the transfer means comprises a needle and
displacing means for displacing the needle in at least one dimension,
preferably at least two dimensions and most preferable three dimensions,
the discs can be positioned at any place on the culture dish. In order to
assist the release of a disc from the needle the needle may be surrounded
by a sleeve which is moveable relative to the needle.

[0009] In order to automate the operation as much as possible it is
preferred that the disc dispensing device further comprises culture dish
identifying means for detecting and reading an identifying mark on a
culture dish, said culture dish identifying means being connected to the
control means for providing a signal indicative of the read identifying
mark of the culture dish to the control means.

[0010] Optionally it is advantageous that the disc dispensing device
further comprises tubular container identifying means for detecting and
reading an identifying mark on a tubular container, said tubular
container identifying means being connected to the control means for
providing a signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the tubular
container to the control means. It is then advantageous when the control
means comprises a memory, said control means being adapted for
automatically or responsive to manual input activating the tubular
identifying means during rotation of the plurality of containers for
reading all the tubular container identifying marks, and being adapted
for automatically inputting the signals indicative of the read tubular
identifying marks into the memory, indicating the position and content of
each of the plurality of tubular containers within the magazine, and
wherein said control means are adapted for controlling the rotation of
the plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish,
the operation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer
means based on the input position and content of each of the plurality of
tubular containers contained in the memory and based on suitable software
programs loaded on a processor of the control means.

[0011] Although any known identification means (such as e.g. RFID labels,
alphanumerical characters, etc.) can be applied in the inventive device a
very reliable and advantageous embodiment of the invention uses a bar
code scanner (also called bar code reader) for detecting and reading the
culture dish and/or the tubular containers. In this case the identifying
mark is of course a bar code.

[0012] The culture dish identifying mark may contain information which is
relevant for operating the disc dispensing device. Such information may
include one or more of the following: the manufacturer of the culture
dish, the specific identification number of the culture dish, the agar
gel present in the culture dish, the identity of the bacteria colony
present in the culture dish, the original petri dish from which the
bacteria culture was transferred, the suspension used, the concentration
of the bacteria colony, the date when the bacteria colony was transferred
to the culture dish, the expiry date before which the culture dish has to
be used etc. The tubular container identifying mark may contain
information which is relevant for operating the disc dispensing device.
Such information may include one or more of the following: the
manufacturer of the tubular container, the specific identification number
of the tubular container, the number of discs contained in the tubular
container, the kind of the antibiotics present in the tubular container,
the concentration of the antibiotics in the tubular container, the date
when the discs were placed in the tubular container, the expiry date
before which the discs have to be used etc. In addition an identifying
mark may not contain this information itself but may contain a reference
(a so-called key) to a database, another memory or external device from
which the relevant information may be obtained.

[0013] An embodiment of a disc dispensing device according to the
invention can operate in a first automatic operation mode, a so-called
stand alone mode, for controlling the rotation of the plurality of
tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish, the operation of
the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer means based on the
signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the culture dish and/or
the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the tubular
container, and based on suitable software programs loaded on a processor
of the control means.

[0014] Alternatively or additionally the disc dispensing device according
to the invention can operate in a second automatic operation mode, a
so-called full automatic mode, when the control means comprises a
communication interface to an external device for sending and receiving
information to and from said external device, respectively. In this
second mode the control means is adapted for controlling the rotation of
the plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish,
the operation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer
means based on the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the
culture dish and/or the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of
the tubular container, and based on received external information. In
both the first and second operation mode the control means automatically
obtains the necessary information to control the operation of the disc
dispensing device, and thus it is e.g. possible that automatically a
selection of discs (i.e. antibiotics) is made, together with e.g. a
specific placement of the discs on the culture dish.

[0015] A versatile disc dispensing device is provided in accordance with
the invention in case the disc dispensing device comprises a manual
control panel, said control means being adapted for operating in a third
operation mode in which the control means is overridden by the manual
control panel. In this way it is e.g. possible to input in the control
panel the number and kind of discs that are to be dispensed on the
culture dish, and optionally their position thereon when the control
means comprises a memory, and when the control panel is adapted for
enabling manual input of the position and content of each of the
plurality of tubular containers within the magazine into the memory, and
when the control means are adapted for controlling the rotation of the
plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish, the
operation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer means
based on the input position and content of each of the plurality of
tubular containers contained in the memory and based on suitable software
programs loaded on a processor of the control means. In this way it is
e.g. possible to use tubular containers in the inventive disc dispensing
device which do not have identifying marks.

[0016] To enable further automation an embodiment of the disc dispensing
device of the invention further comprises means for automatically
removing and placing a lid from and on a culture dish, respectively,
wherein it is advantageous when the disc dispensing device further
comprises a conveyor for conveying a culture dish to and from the
moveable carriage and means for automatically transferring a culture dish
from the moveable carriage onto the conveyor and vice versa,
respectively.

[0017] The invention further relates to a tubular container for use in a
disc dispensing device according to the invention, wherein said tubular
container is provided with an identifying mark, said identifying mark
being readable by tubular container identifying means, said identifying
mark referring to and/or containing information at least regarding the
content of the tubular container. The tubular container identifying mark
may contain information which is relevant for operating the disc
dispensing device or for other purposes. Such information may include one
or more of the following: the manufacturer of the tubular container, the
specific identification number of the tubular container, the number of
discs contained in the tubular container, the kind of the antibiotics
present in the tubular container, the concentration of the antibiotics in
the tubular container, the date when the discs were placed in the tubular
container, the expiry date before which the discs have to be used etc. In
addition an identifying mark may not contain this information itself but
may contain a reference (a so-called key) to a database, another memory
or external device from which the relevant information may be obtained.

[0018] The invention also relates to a method of dispensing discs
impregnated with antibiotics, said method comprising the steps of:

[0019] providing a culture dish in a starting position;

[0020] moving said culture dish from the starting position into an
operating position;

[0021] providing a magazine comprising a plurality of tubular containers,
each tubular container containing a stack of discs to be dispensed,

[0022] when the culture dish is in the operating position moving one disc
from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position,

[0023] picking up said one disc from the pick-up position, transferring
said one disc to the culture dish and dispensing said one disc onto the
culture dish,

[0024] controlling the step of moving said culture dish and the step of
transferring said one disc to the culture dish to dispense a disc
impregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish in the operating
position,

[0025] characterized in that the method comprises the step of rotating the
plurality of tubular containers around a magazine centre when the culture
dish is in the operating position. Preferred embodiments of the inventive
method are disclosed in the dependent claims.

[0026] The inventive disc dispensing device and the inventive method of
dispensing discs provides the possibility to dispense a large number of
discs on the culture dish which number is not restricted by the number of
tubular containers used. In this manner susceptibility tests can be
performed with much more variety and choices of antibiotics.

[0027] Further objects, features, effects, advantages and details of the
invention are described with reference to examples shown in the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028]FIG. 1 schematically shows a disc dispensing device in accordance
with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the disc dispensing device 1
is shown which comprises a stationary support 2 which is only partly
shown.

[0030] A moveable carriage 3 is mounted on the stationary support 2 and
has a horizontal surface 5 for supporting a removable culture dish 4. A
means (not shown) is provided on the carriage 3 for securely locating the
culture dish 4 on the horizontal surface 5. The culture dish 4 is
intended to contain a thin layer of nutrient agar gel (not shown) onto or
into which a bacteria colony under test has previously been seeded or
otherwise applied, using known techniques. For example, the bacteria
colony can be transferred in a known manner from an original petri dish
onto the culture dish 4. The purpose of the disc dispensing device is to
deposit onto the surface of this layer of agar gel an array of spaced
susceptibility discs, each disc being impregnated with a different
antibiotic (in which `different` can also refer to a different
concentration). Once all the desired or required discs have been
deposited, the culture dish and its contents are removed and placed in an
incubator so that the effect of each antibiotic on the bacteria colony
can be assessed. The number of discs and the pattern in which they are
placed on the agar gel layer can be selected (to be described later).

[0031] The disc dispensing device 1 further comprises a magazine 6 which
is removably mounted on the stationary support 2.

[0032] During operation of the disc dispensing device 1, a central bore 7'
(which in this embodiment forms the centre of the magazine 6) of the
magazine 6 is mounted on a vertical axle 7. It can be seen in FIG. 1 that
the magazine 6 comprises a substantially circular housing 8. The
antibiotic discs to be dispensed are contained in a plurality of
individual tubular containers 9. In the present embodiment forty-two
tubular containers are arranged and held by the magazine 6. It will be
clear however that in other embodiments of the invention other numbers of
tubular containers can be received by the magazine, but relatively large
numbers, i.e. well above twenty, are preferred. The discs 10 are piled on
top of one another in a stack within each tubular container and are e.g.
biased towards the lower end of the container by means of a coil spring
11 and plunger 12. The lower or bottom end of the tubular container is in
a known manner provided with an opening such that one single disc can be
dispensed from the tubular container. Since the magazine 6 is removable
it is possible to install different sets of tubular containers containing
a wide selection of antibiotics which can be used to perform the
susceptibility test. However, in case forty-two tubular containers are
used, replacement of the magazine will be seldom necessary. Each tubular
container 9 can contain an identifying mark 18, in the shown example a
bar code, containing (or referring to) information regarding e.g. the
kind of antibiotics, the concentration of the antibiotics, etc. contained
therein.

[0033] At the beginning of operation the moveable carriage 3 is positioned
on the stationary support 2 in a starting position 13 indicated by broken
lines. In this starting position 13 a culture dish is placed on the
carriage. Although not shown in the FIGURE a conveyor is present for
automatically conveying a culture dish to the moveable carriage, and also
means for automatically transferring the culture dish from the conveyor
onto the carriage are present. Correct placement of the culture dish on
the carriage can e.g. be detected by micro-switches or visually by an
operator. After correct placement has been established a lid which is
usually placed on the culture dish is automatically removed from the
culture dish by (not shown) suitable means. Please note that in
alternative embodiments conveyance, transfer and removing a lid can take
place manually. After correct placement has been established the carriage
can be moved towards the magazine 6 into an operating position 14
(indicated with solid lines). This movement can be performed by any known
means, such as for example along rails 15 which are engaged by wheels
(not shown) mounted under the carriage. The wheels can be driven under
control of control means 20. As clearly can be seen in FIG. 1 the
operating position 14 is spaced from the centre 7' of the magazine 6.

[0034] In order to be able to for example trace and identify the culture
dish 4 and its contents, such as for example the kind of agar gel, the
bacteria colony deposited in the culture dish, and the original petri
dish, the culture dish 4 is provided with an identifying mark 17, in the
shown example a bar code containing the relevant information.

[0035] In the shown embodiment the carriage 3 comprises means 16 for
rotating the culture dish 4, which means in this example is formed by a
rotational shaft 16 on which the culture dish 4 is mounted. The
rotational shaft 16 can be activated for giving a rotational movement to
the culture dish 4 at any time after the culture dish is correctly
positioned on the carriage. In any case the rotational shaft 16 needs to
be activated for rotating the culture dish during dispensing of the discs
in the culture dish, thus the culture dish is rotatable when the carriage
is in the operating position. In addition, the disc dispensing device 1
comprises culture dish identifying means, in this example in the form of
a bar code reader 19 which is able to read the bar code 17 on the culture
dish 4, for detecting and identifying the culture dish. This bar code
reader 19 is connected to a control means 20 for providing a signal
indicative of the identity of the culture dish 4 (and other relevant
information, such as e.g. its contents) to the control means 20.
Depending on the position of the bar code reader 19 on the stationary
platform 2 the rotational shaft 16 is activated such that the bar code 17
on the culture dish 4 can correctly be read. In the shown embodiment the
bar code reader or scanner 19 is positioned such that it can correctly
read the bar code 17 when the culture dish is rotated in the operating
position of the carriage 3.

[0036] In a similar way the disc dispensing device 1 can further comprise
tubular container identifying means, in this example also in the form of
a bar code reader or scanner 21, for detecting and identifying the bar
code 18 on a tubular container 9. This container bar code reader 21 is
suitably positioned inside the housing 8 and provides a signal indicative
of the read identifying mark, in this case the bar code, of the tubular
container to the control means 20. This signal can also be used to
identify the position of the respective tubular container within the
magazine 6. Please note that in case the tubular containers are not
provided with identifying marks, it is possible to input the relevant
information into the control means manually.

[0037] It will be clear that although in the described embodiment bar
codes and bar code readers are used, it is in other embodiments of the
invention possible to use other known identifying marks and mark readers.
In addition in case suitably positioned, e.g. in the lower part of the
housing 8 and on the outer side thereof only one bar code reader is
sufficient to read both the culture dish bar code and the tubular
container bar codes.

[0038] To dispense a single disc 10' impregnated with antibiotics from a
tubular container 9 the disc dispensing device 1 comprises moving means
22 for moving one disc from the lower or bottom end of a tubular
container to a pick-up position 23, which is fixed or stationary relative
to the stationary support 2. The moving means 22 (which are controlled by
the control means 20) linearly moves the one disc in a radial direction
outwardly from the centre of the magazine 7' towards the pick up position
23. Although each tubular container can be associated with a respective
moving means, it is possible to use one and the same moving means for all
the tubular containers.

[0039] Since the pick up position 23 is fixed relative to the support 2
transfer means 24 comprising a needle 25 for picking up said one disc
from the pick-up position, and for transferring said one disc 10' to the
culture dish 4 can also be positioned in a stationary position on the
support. The transfer means 24 is controlled by a microprocessor 26 which
is controlled by the control means 20 for displacing the needle 25 in at
least one dimension (i.e. in this case upward and downward). In this way
the needle 25 can be lowered to penetrate the disc 10' and to hold to
disc 10'. Thereafter the needle 25 is raised, the moving means 22 is
retracted in the direction of the centre of the magazine and the needle
25 is lowered until the disc 10' contacts the agar gel. Since the contact
force applied by the agar gel on the disc 10' is larger than the force
applied by the needle 25, when raising the needle 25 the disc 10' remains
behind in the culture dish. However, in order to assist removal of the
disc from the needle a moveable sleeve can be arranged around the needle,
which sleeve when lowered, pushes the disc off the needle. In other
embodiments transfer means can be used to displace the needle in at least
two and preferably in three dimensions, such that a disc can be
positioned at any specific location on the culture dish 4, thereby
allowing much more discs to be placed in a wide variety, improving
susceptibility tests.

[0040] In order to dispense the next disc impregnated with antibiotics the
plurality of containers 9 is rotated such around the axle 7 that the
container containing the next disc is positioned correctly with respect
to the transfer means (and in case of an embodiment using one single
moving means correctly with respect to this unique moving means). In
addition the culture dish is rotated to the next position for receiving
this next disc. When the required or desired number of discs is placed on
the culture dish, the carriage is moved back to the starting position,
optionally an indication (visual or auditory) is given by the disc
dispensing device, and the means for automatically removing and placing a
lid can put a lid back on the culture dish, whereafter it is
automatically transferred to the conveyor for further processing. In
alternative embodiments the lid can be put back on the culture disc
manually, as well as transferring the culture disc for further processing
can take place by an operator in a manual way.

[0041] The control means 20 of the disc dispensing device 1 controls the
operation of the components of the disc dispensing device. The control
means 20 can be formed by any programmable processor device, and the
invention is not limited to a specific kind of control means, as long as
it is able to perform the required functions.

[0042] The control means 20 is connected to drive means 27, which drives
the movement of the carriage from the starting position to the operating
position and vice versa, and which also activates the rotational shaft 16
in order to rotate the culture dish. Furthermore, the control means 20 is
connected to a drive 28 for driving the rotation of the plurality of
tubular containers 9 around the axle 7. As mentioned above the control
means 20 also controls the operation of the moving means 22, and the
operation of the transfer means 24 via the microprocessor 26 to dispense
a disc impregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish in the
operating position of the carriage. In addition, as already described
above the control means 20 is connected to the bar code readers or
scanners 19, 21 to receive information therefrom.

[0043] The disc dispensing device 1 comprises a manual control panel 29
comprising a number of control buttons 30, and a visual display 31 for
amongst other things displaying operational data to an operator of the
disc dispensing device. A communication interface 32 is present to
establish communication between the control means and an external device
for sending and receiving information to and from said external device,
respectively. Such an external device can e.g. be a bacterial colony
identification device such as a Maldi-tof mass spectrometry machine or a
personal computer.

[0044] The disc dispensing device 1 can be operated in at least three
different operational modes.

[0045] In a first operation mode the control means 20 controls the
rotation of the plurality of tubular containers 9, the rotation of the
culture dish 4, the operation of the moving means 22 and the operation of
the transfer means 24 based on the signals received from the bar code
readers 19 and (optionally) 21, which signals are indicative of the
identifying mark of the culture dish and of the identifying mark of the
tubular container (if present). Based on suitable software programs
loaded on a processor of the control means 20, the number of discs, the
kind of discs (i.e. the kind of antibiotics), the order of placement of
the discs and the pattern (including mutual spacing) in which the discs
are placed can be selected. Such suitable software programs are common in
the field of susceptibility testing and need no further description. In
addition if the tubular containers contain identifying marks the control
means control the rotation of the plurality of containers such that they
are at least fully rotated once so that all the identifying marks are
read and the relevant information is stored in the memory of the control
means. Based on this stored information the position of each tubular
container within the plurality and its contents is known.

[0046] In a second mode of operation the control means 20 receives
suitable information via the communication interface 32 from an external
device (preferably upon a request sent by the control means 20, in which
request information obtained from the read culture dish bar code is
contained). This information is used by the control means 20 to control
the rotation of the plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the
culture dish, the operation of the moving means and the operation of the
transfer means in addition to the signals received from the bar code
readers 19 and 21, which signals are indicative of the identity of the
culture dish and of the identity of the tubular container. Again based on
suitable software programs loaded on a processor of the control means 20,
the number of discs, the kind of discs (i.e. the kind of antibiotics),
the order of placement of the discs and the pattern (including mutual
spacing) in which the discs are placed can be selected in dependence of
e.g. the identity of the bacteria colony as received from a Maldi-tof
machine. Such suitable software programs are common in the field of
susceptibility testing and need no further description.

[0047] In a third operation mode the automatic control by the control
means 20 is overridden by input via the manual control panel 29. By using
the manual control panel 29 an operator can manually input for example at
least one of the following: the number of discs, the kind of discs, the
order of placement of the discs and the pattern (including mutual
spacing) in which the discs are to be placed on the culture dish. Such a
manual selection can be performed with and without information from one
or both of the bar code scanners.

[0048] With the disc dispensing device as described above it thus is
possible to perform a method of dispensing discs impregnated with
antibiotics, said method comprising the steps of providing a culture dish
in a starting position; moving said culture dish from the starting
position into an operating position; providing a magazine comprising a
plurality of tubular containers, each tubular container containing a
stack of discs to be dispensed, when the culture dish is in the operating
position moving one disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a
pick-up position, picking up said one disc from the pick-up position,
transferring said one disc to the culture dish and dispensing said one
disc onto the culture dish, controlling the step of moving and
transferring to dispense a disc impregnated with antibiotics onto the
culture dish in the operating position, and the step of rotating the
plurality of tubular containers around a magazine centre when the culture
dish is in the operating position. The operating position can be provided
at a position spaced from the centre of the magazine. One disc can be
moved from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position in a
radial direction outwardly from the centre of the magazine. The pick up
position can be in one stationary spatial position. The culture dish can
be rotated. In the method a bacteria colony is transferred from an
original petri dish onto the culture dish and an identifying mark, such
as a bar code, is provided on the culture dish. In this culture dish
identifying mark information is incorporated or a reference or key is
incorporated from which at least the original petri dish, the bacteria
colony or the identity of the specific culture dish can be deduced. The
identifying mark on the culture dish is read and a signal indicative of
the read identifying mark of the culture dish is provided. In each one of
the plurality of tubular containers discs are provided which are
impregnated with an antibiotic having a property which is different from
the property of antibiotics used to impregnate the discs contained in the
other tubular containers of the plurality. Optionally an identifying
mark, such as a bar code, is provided on said tubular container, and in
which identifying mark information is incorporated from which at least
the kind of antibiotics, the concentration of the antibiotics or the
identity of the specific tubular container can be deduced. The tubular
container identifying mark is read and a signal indicative of the read
identifying mark of the tubular container is provided. Based on the
information deducible from the culture dish identifying mark the discs to
be dispensed from specific tubular containers are chosen. The number of
discs to be dispensed on the culture dish, the tubular containers from
which the discs are to be taken and/or the position of each disc on the
culture dish can optionally be chosen by manual input. The plurality of
tubular containers can be rotated so that all tubular container
identifying marks are read during said rotation, after which all the
signals of the read identifying marks are stored automatically. The
number of discs to be dispensed on the culture dish, the tubular
containers from which the discs are to be taken and/or the position of
each disc on the culture dish can be chosen based on the signal
indicative of the read identifying mark of the culture dish and/or on the
signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the tubular container.
The inventive method further provides the possibility to request the
identity of the bacteria colony from an external system. In the method a
lid can automatically be removed from and placed on a culture dish,
respectively, whereas also conveying and transferring a culture dish to
and from the starting position can be performed automatically.